I Can Prove It
by Raindrop Ninja
Summary: After an argument over Prussia becoming a nation again, Vietnam leaves Germany's house with a list and a challenge. He's fit to be a nation in every way, and Viet can prove it. But it may be harder than expected... Plotbunnies, multichap. PrussiaXVietnam ON HIATUS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. I apologize for the possible inconvenience.
1. A Rather Involved Argument

Hey peepsicles! 'Kay, so first off, I wanted to say that this story will be...moderately long. I don't really know, I got bricked by a flying plotbunny whilst doing homework on this...fine...rainy...overcast...day. ;A; So depressive. Oh well! Anyway, another thing I wanted to mention is that this is just a little 'prologue', if you will. It's just kind of how the little story got started. You can probably guess who they're arguing about from the context, of course. Just sayin'! But yeah, there will definitely be more, better stuff after this. Also, one more thing that I wanted to adress is the fact that, while you as readers may say, "Omg! Vietnam's soo out of character!", I, as the author, see Vietnam as being a lot like Hungary; tomboyish, strong, energetic, sometimes scares the crap out of the male nations, always a fighter, fiercely protects those close to her, etc. That is my view of Vietnam's character. AKA, she's like me, not at all like the quiet, shy, feminine Asian nation that many may view her to be. So, don't be flamin'. That's all! Thanks for listening to my rant! Enjoy! :D

- Rain (='.'=)

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"...And that's why I decided to come to you. I want him to become his own country again." Vietnam finished calmly.

"What makes you think that is at all possible?" Germany scoffed. "It would be a tremendous task, to separate our territories again, and even then, he hasn't managed economy, military, politics or anything a nation needs to be responsible for since 1918! That is too long to remain idle and then suddenly take up all those duties of a full-fledged nation after all this time!"

"And what makes you think he isn't up to the challenge!" Vietnam retorted. "He's one of the strongest countries-no, people I've ever known!"

"Perhaps, but ask yourself, is he physically strong or just headstrong?"

The Asian nation slammed her palm against the hard wood of the table. "Dammit, I'm trying to be serious! Stop condescending him for once and just think!"

"I have thought, and I do think, and I think all the time, which is something he never seems to be able to do."

"There you go again! Why must you always speak so lowly of him? He's your own brother for chrissake, show him a little respect!"

"I'll show him some respect when he really cares."

"But don't you see? He does care! Can't you see how hard it is on him to have to live with and be dependent on his little brother all the time?" Vietnam crossed her arms, a cold look in her eyes. "I didn't think you were so dense, Germany. I'm dissapointed."

German sighed. "Look, all I'm getting at is that it is my personal opinion that he lacks the necessary qualities to be an independent nation again. Years of not managing politics and economy have let him grow lax and ill-suited to the responsibility of handling such. And, as my consent is needed for a separation to happen, it is solely my decision as to whether or not mein bruder will-"

"No, it's not just your decision!" She cut him off. "Have you ever asked him? Have you ever let him manage his former territory? I'm sure he'd be perfectly 'in practice' if you didn't do everything for him!"

"I never asked to have all of his country's responsibilities dumped onto me!" the Germanic nation defended.

"You never protested though, did you? You can't even trust him with his own duties!" Vietnam accused.

"Of course I trust my own brother! He's just...not the most responsible person," he finished slowly.

"But that doesn't mean he's completely 'unfit' to be a nation! And it's not your place to say so or not!"

"As he's living in my house, under my watch, I believe-"

Cutting him off again, the brown-eyed nation yelled at her German companion, "He may be living with you, but he's still his own person! Your territories may be one, but you two aren't! Stop being a mother, Germany! He's your older brother, he can handle things on his own! He raised you, he fucking raised you! Can't you even give him that?"

"I know he raised me, but-"

"Then give him a chance!" Vietnam's voice suddenly grew deadly calm, her eyes holding a cold aura. She leaned over the table toward the Germanic nation and hissed, "He has every quality you could possibly ask of a nation. He's one of the strongest people I know. And he may not show it, but I know this much: he can damn well be an even better nation than he was before." Glaring at the man she faced, she asked, "What qualities does he really need, anyway?"

Germany cleared his throat and reached into one of the table's many drawers, withdrawing a sheet of paper. Taking out a pen, he silently jotted down a bulleted list and, upon it's completion, handed it to the resolute Vietnamese across from him. Said nation scanned the paper just as silently, glaring back up at him after reading through the neat printing. "Wow. An actual list. How cute and utterly official of you." Her voice held obvious tones of sarcasm. She continued, "He can meet every one of these 'conditions'." Leaning closer to him, she added, "I can prove it."

Germany snorted, shooting back a glare of his own. He was otherwise silent. Closing his eyes, he opened them again upon hearing a sigh released from the other country. "I-I'm sorry, Germany. I just..."

The German let out a small sigh of his own, blinking slowly. "It's alright, Vietnam. I know you care about mein bruder, and..." He trailed off. The Asian country was nowhere to be seen. He just sighed again, closing his eyes once more.

Walking back to her own home, a certain flowery Asian nation sighed, but set her gaze determinedly forward. "I can prove it...I will prove it..."


	2. Punctuality

**A/N: Hello my readers! Please don't kill me! *hides behind Lithuania's acorn-protection shield* I'm so, so terribly sorry about not updating in for-freaking-ever! Please forgive me... I hope this longer chapter makes up for it :S Anyway, please R&R to let me know what you think! Molto grazie to anyone who's still here! :D**

**-Rain**

* * *

><p>Vietnam rubbed her forehead as she stared at the sheet of paper in her hand. Punctuality. Of all the traits in the world, why was punctuality on there? She sighed. '<em>Hypocrite.'<em> If punctuality was one of the supposed 'required' nation characteristics, then why the hell did most of them have no sense of it whatsoever?

She would never quite understand the German's way of thinking. Maybe he was testing his brother as well, in his own way? Whatever the case, she would have to have a word with him after this whole thing was said and done. She neatly folded the paper and slipped it back into her pocket.

Vietnam leaned her head back against the firm easy chair she rested in. _'How exactly am I supposed to do this?'_ Indeed, she'd known what she was getting into by raising this challenge to Germany, but how do you find out if someone is punctual? Ask them out someplace and then see if they get there on time?

The Asian blinked. That was actually the best idea she'd had so far, and she'd had pitifully few. She stood up with a new resolution. That's exactly what she'd do. She picked up her phone to call Prussia and ask him on a 'date'.

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes later, Vietnam was sitting at a small table outside a well-known café that many nations often found to be a welcome reprieve from their daily duties as such. She was dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a blue T-shirt, along with a pair of plain flats. Her hair, done up in its usual low ponytail, was tossed gently by the summer breeze as the girl nursed the coffee in her hand, looking around with a casual air. She glanced at her phone to check the time. 3:57. They were supposed to meet here at 4:00, but she'd come a little early, to be sure of his 'punctuality'. She replaced the phone in her pocket with a small shrug, taking another sip of her coffee.<p>

As she waited, Vietnam thought deeply about the challenge she'd been handed. _Challenge_ was an operative word in this case. Everyone knew he hadn't really done much to redeem himself as a nation since his dissolution.

A sudden thought struck her with surprising force. _'What if he just doesn't care?'_ Well, it was obvious to all that he didn't really give a rat's ass what other people thought of him, but what if he simply didn't care about becoming a nation again? Maybe he was perfectly happy with his status as an ex-country. Was she being selfish? She shook her head. _'I just want what's best for another nation, that's all.'_ But then, were the responsibilities of nationhood really what was best for him? 'Desire to become a nation' _was _one of the other characteristics on the list. Maybe Germany had been so obstinate because he knew his brother didn't want or care to become a nation again?

She shook her head again as if to clear away these possibilities, but she couldn't quite get rid of the doubt that had wormed its way into her.

Her thoughts gnawed at her and drew her further into her own mind, full of possibilities that were both negative and positive. So involved was she that she jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Vietnam... Are you alright?"

She looked over her shoulder, her brown eyes meeting Prussia's ruby gaze. "Ah, I'm sorry!" she said quickly. "I didn't realize you were even here, how rude of me!..."

The albino shook his head. "Are you okay?"

Vietnam nodded slowly. "Yeah. I'm fine."

"Alright…" Prussia looked away, placing his other hand on the back of his head. "Um… Sorry if I'm late. I don't usually get invited anyplace…"

The Vietnamese blinked at this before giving a quick shake of her head. "It's alright. It's only by a minute or so, anyway. Do you drink coffee?"

"Ja."

She picked up another cup identical to her own. "Good. Here, I got you some."

She held it out and he took it gratefully. "Thanks," he said simply as he sat across from her.

Vietnam took small sips of her own coffee as she looked around for nothing in particular, eventually turning to look at the former nation in front of her, who watched her with light curiosity. She didn't know what it was, but although he wasn't wearing anything that couldn't be defined as 'casual', he struck her as looking extremely good. It took her a while to notice that he had taken to staring down at his cup with a half-confused expression.

"…Is something wrong?" Vietnam asked suddenly.

Prussia gave a start before raising his eyes to meet hers. "Well… Why did you call me here?"

Vietnam tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"It's just that… No one invites me anyplace. Well, unless it's Spain or France, but those two are my best friends, so… it's different."

The Asian nation stared at the European. She was unprepared for the question. She thought for a moment before responding. "Well, I consider you to be a friend, but when I think about it, I don't really know much about you." She offered him a friendly smile. "I want to get to know you better."

The Prussian had a truly surprised look on his face. "You do?"

She nodded, feeling sorry at seeing his expression. Didn't he have any close friends besides those two? "You seem like... Well, I get the feeling that not many truly give you a chance. It makes me sad. I mean, sure you can be a little obnoxious, but I think that if more people got to know you, they'd find that there's so much more to you than meets the eye."

She stopped, half surprised by her own little speech. It was what she truly believed, but she was still astounded by her own capacity to express her feeling so openly.

Prussia's crimson eyes seemed to flare with an unreadable emotion before he blinked hard and adopted the signature smirk of his which had been strangely fleeting since his arrival. "Kesese~ Well, of course you would want to know more about the awesome me!"

Vietnam offered a good-humored roll of her eyes and a light chuckle escaped her, but beneath the pomposity of his words, she thought he could detect true pleasure as well as the slightest hinting at deeper conflict.

"Well, you already know that I'm awesome, so what else do you want to know?"

For a moment, Vietnam debated whether to kill two birds with one stone and inquire as to whether he had any desire to become a nation again, but she just as soon decided against it. There was time enough to ask about that another day, and besides that, something told her that an open, public place like this was not exactly an ideal place to bring it up. Some deep, inborn intuition whispered that it was a sensitive topic… Though at first glance you'd wonder if this guy could be sensitive about anything.

"Well, how about your brother? What's your relationship with him?"

* * *

><p>Their conversation gradually grew more relaxed and casual, carrying on for the better part of two hours and ending only because Vietnam, glancing at her phone, recalled that she had promised to help out one of her brothers with decorations for one of the summer festivals in abundance across his country. As she got up to leave, taking the hand that Prussia offered her, she found herself saying, "That was really nice. I'm glad I got to talk to you." Half on impulse, she added, "Let's do again sometime."<p>

Prussia paused for a moment before offering one of his cocky grins. "Yeah. That'd be awesome!"

Vietnam returned the grin with one of her own and nodded.

* * *

><p>As she stared out the window of the train to her brother South Korea's house, Vietnam reflected on everything she'd learned about the rambunctious former nation.<p>

He was older than her by about… One hundred years? One hundred fifty? She couldn't quite remember. He was intensely proud of his little brother, though he did wish that Germany would "get that stick out of his ass and loosen up every once in a while", and though he may not show it often, he did care deeply for the Aryan. Hungary was his closest friend from childhood, and he had been the first of the two to figure out that the aforementioned was a girl. (His face had become profusely red when he said this; it had taken a good of effort on Vietnam's part not to giggle at his flustered demeanor.) Despite his actions, Austria seemed to be a close friend of his as well, with constantly antagonizing the aristocratic European apparently being Prussia's way of "bestowing his awesomeness upon that unawesome prick."

There were two things that Prussia not only enjoyed doing but prided himself on (besides his astounding ability to hold his liquor): cleaning, and the flute. The house that he and Germany shared was almost always amazingly clean, and if something had happened to Germany (such as a hangover), he would always tidy the house in his brother's stead. And playing the flute was something of a guilty pleasure for him. Only a handful of people were privy to his love for the instrument (Vietnam herself felt privileged to know), and he seldom played when others could hear it. He said that he had started playing because it was "Old Fritz's" favorite instrument, and that he would always play when he visited Fritz's grave. Vietnam had asked if she could ever hear him play, but he had averted his eyes (he seemed almost shy?) and muttered, "I'll think about it."

She allowed herself a small chuckle, a smile playing on her face. She really would love to hear him play some time, but for now she was content simply to know more about him. She reached down to her lap, and with the pen she grasped between her fingers, made a small, simple mark on the paper there, next to the word 'punctuality'. It was only the first of a sizeable list, but it was still something. There would be time enough to hear him play.


End file.
